The guard and the cellmate had something illegal going on that Bates oversaw. Bates didn’t give a shit but they were concerned that he would rat them out so they wanted to get him out of the way. Bates was able to thwart that in a way that got them into trouble so the coerced the ex-wife’s friend to get revenge.
Ah, OK, that works.
No help for the rest, but I think the conspiracy against Bates goes back to the newspaperman, Sir Richard(?). For some reason, he decided that the former Mrs. Bates is too crazy to be trusted not break the contract. Instead of waiting her out and destroying her with contract law; he has her killed in a way that implicates Mr. Bates, partly out of not wanting to be made to look foolish and partly as an backhanded way of getting back at the Granthams. The machinations to keep Bates in jail are all at his behest.
Of course, this is based mostly on my desire to see that cool guy from Game of Thrones on Downton Abbey again.
I proposed this theory a couple of time upthread:
It’s you and me, FM.
I enoyed this episode very much, even though the Bates imprisonment seems to be getting wrapped up waaaaay too quickly given how long it’s dragged on.
I like that the Earl is being shown as much more of a multidimensional character this season. He’s previously been a stuffy but almost-entirely-admirable guy, but now we’re seeing him as a poor manager, a dumb investor, bigoted, peevish, snobby and self-righteous. Feet of clay make him a lot more interesting IMHO.
I think less of the doctor now that he’s done the Dowager Countess’s bidding in downplaying Sybil’s chances of surviving with a ceasarian.
The Dowager mentioned her friend the Duchess of Norfolk being “more Catholic than the Pope,” and the dukes of Norfolk have indeed been historically Catholic: Duke of Norfolk - Wikipedia
Yeah, the other guards were certainly conveniently distracted at that point.
That was good. I also liked the new kitchen maid’s comment, “A cat may look at a king!” and Mrs. Patmore’s rejoinder, “Well, maybe, but not at a cook!”
Mrs. Hughes’s eyeroll, heading out the door after Carson criticizes her for having no scruples about consorting with prostitutes, was priceless.
Cora’s - and the other women’s - standing up to Robert and insisting on remaining at the meal with Mrs. Crawley was a great scene.
Predictions: Daisy has a May-December marriage with her father-in-law; Tom gets his daughter baptized Catholic, but leaves her to be raised by Matthew and Mary.
Don’t know how I missed that.
I hope a certain Mr. Fellowes is listening. We pay your castle mortgage, dude, hook us up!
I wondered if Daisy would get together with her FIL. He seems like a very nice guy. I’d date him.
I loved Mrs. Patmore’s comment: “You’re all in love with the wrong people!” A Shakespearean comedy motif.
I thought Violet bringing in the doctor was the right thing to do. In fact, a c-section probably would not have saved Sybil, and that needed to be made clear to Cora. Robert was still wrong in the way he handled the two doctors, giving greater weight to the specialist’s opinion just because of his status. But the facts of Sybil’s condition needed to be understood by all. Violet’s a pistol.
I think he’s starting to see himself like this, too, and it’s scaring the hell out him – making him try to grasp and control even more forcefully than ever, to shake that vision. It’ll be interesting to see if/how he reconciles with himself.
“Yes, I’m a poor manager, a dumb investor, bigoted, peevish, snobby and sel-righteous, but I’m OK and I can learn how to grow and evolve with the help of those around me.”
OK, yeah, I don’t see him saying that. :rolleyes:
Mrs. Patmore is easily one of my favorite characters on the show. She’s hardworking and full of common sense. Her relationship with Daisy is very knowing and sweet.
But I disagree with you on Violet’s handing of Robert. I think Violet’s babying him. Someone needs to have a long talk with her son about his poor decision making. Instead she practically commanded the doctor to lie to him so he could feel better about his lapse in judgement. Violet may be the only one who can get away with doing so at this point. I would like to see her try.
Thomas is extremely lonely and desperate for any kind of affection.
Isadore Levinson was most likely a Jew who converted to Christianity (ala Benhamin Disraeli), and gave Cora a big enough dowry that the Crawleys were willing to overlook anything.
Yep, their own cottage and Anna would retire if & when she get’s pregnant. Married servants were rare, married female servants were pretty much unheard of. Only upper servants (like bulters & valets) were allowed to marry, and were often still required to live in the house and only saw their families on their days off.
Bates was convicted of murder; that was an automatic death sentence in 1920. Notice how the judge immediatly put his black cap on and sentenced him to hang? He did mange to get it commuted pretty quickly though; which was normal. Most death sentence did get commuted by the government.
BTW, the Earl referred to having his granddaughter become a “left-footer” - never heard of that phrase before, but a little Googling reveals that it was pejorative slang for Catholics, supposedly because Protestant farmers set their right foot on their shovels as they began to dig, while Catholics did so with their left!
Yes, well, no one ever said bigotry had to make sense…
The doctor didn’t lie. Sybil’s chances, in fact, were very very slight, even with the c-section. Violet had him shift the emphasis from the specialist’s arrogance and asshole-ism to the actual medical facts. In this, Violet was being realistic, practical, and aware of the need to deal with reality is it is, not as she wished it would be. If she had not done this, Robert and Cora might have been stuck at this fruitless impasse for the rest of their lives. Why would that be a good thing.
This is why she handles Robert the way she does. What would be the point of raking him over the coals about decision-making? What practical good could possibly come from that? EVENTS and other family members are slapping him in the face with his mistakes. Violet is, above all, a realist.
Dr. Clarkson: I will not lie to suit the situation! (or words to that effect)
Violet: (offended) Have we nothing in common, then?!?
Loved that.
I think that exchange gives the impression that she was asking him to tell an out-and-out, bold-faced lie. But Sybil probably would have died. That was not a lie.
And in retrospect Clarkson’s presence at the birth was pointless. Had he not been there Sybil still would have died, and it would’ve been just as traumatic for the family. The only change in the outcome would be Cora not blaming her husband for Sybil’s death.
If there had been no doctor, she would have died. If Clarkson had been the only one, she would have died. If the specialist had been the only one, she would have died.
That’s why Violet taking a hand and getting the doc, Robert, and Cora together was NOT dishonest and she did not ask him to lie. What she did was get all of them to recognize the truth: Sybil would have died no matter what.
Oh, I think she was quite willing to have him lie, if need be. Or stretch the truth. To her, the end (Robert and Cora’s reconciliation) was worth more than the means. I think the only reason Dr. Clarkson agreed was that it was the truth; but I think even he sort of stretched the “poor outcome” odds to suit Violet.
Violet used her power over Doctor Clarkson to shelter her little boy from the results of his actions. She has probably been doing that all his life–which explains why he is so sure that he can never be wrong.
I’d really be okay with this. He’s a charmer. Would Daisy consider him? She’s so uptight about the oddest things. She might think it’d be incestuous or something.
I finally figured out who the cute new footman reminds me of – the guy on The Mentalist.
LOL! Mine too, thanks for reminding me. 
But he didn’t have to.
But he didn’t have to.
She asked him to research the subject, and he did, and he came up with the truth, which he reported.
And?
He agreed to RESEARCH IT
Sybil would have died anyway and no one truly knows or could know what the “odds” were? You are indulging in some serious nit-picking here. Why this Violet-bashing??? Holy cow, she’s practically the only one with balls in the whole dang family.